Award Data

COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS DEPEND ON GROUND SUPPORT FOR NAVIGATION. THE GROUND SOLUTION CAN BE COSTLY AND MAY PROVIDE LESS ACCURACY THAN NEEDED. A GPS-BASED REAL-TIME AUTONOMOUS SPACECRAFT NAVIGATION SYSTEM IS PROPOSED. AN ALGORITHM WILL BE DEVELOPED WHICH COMBINES GPS-DERIVED POINT POSITION ESTIMATES WITH A PROPAGATED A PRIORI POSITION ESTIMATE. THE POINT POSITIONS ARE ...

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A NEED EXISTS TO MONITOR VIBRATION IN HIGHWAY BRIDGES. IT IS DESIRABLE TO MONITOR MANY POINTS ON THE BRIDGE. THE CURRENT PROBLEM IS THAT SENSORS MUST BE WIRED TO A CENTRAL LOCATION. WIRE IS DIFFICULT TO INSTALL AND TO MOVE. THE SOLUTION IS TO COLLECT SENSOR DATA BY RADIO. A SYSTEM EXISTS THAT ELIMINATES WIRE. IT GATHERS SENSOR DATA TO A CENTRAL LOCATION BY RADIO. THE SYSTEM'S UNIQUE FEATURE IS THA ...

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Oxide coatings previously developed to protect polyimide and carbon/carbon composites in low earth orbit are brittle and crack upon flexing. Adding small amounts of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) increases coating flexibility but reduces atomic oxygen (AO) resistance and mechanicall durability. Coatings developed in this project will use inorganics with potentially greater flexibility (such as she ...

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Powder Tech's technique facilitates the creation of a structural, metal matrix composite with previously unsurpassed strength-to-density ratios at elevated operating temperatures, and may be the single most important find to traditional powder metallurgy ever. This technique involves the coating of SiC powders with aluminum matrices by a computer controlled fluidized bed CVD process followed by th ...

DIAMOND HAS EXTREMELY HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY, A LARGE BANDGAP, HIGH CARRIER MOBILITIES AND LOW NEUTRON AND IONIZING RADIATION DISLOCATION CROSS SECTIONS. THESE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES MAKE IT AN IDEAL MATERIAL FROM WHICH TO CONSTRUCT ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE, HIGH FREQUENCY AND/OR HIGH RADIATION APPLICATIONS. ONE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT APPLICATION OF DIAMOND LIES IN SUPERLATTICE STRU ...

The physical and chemical properties of ultrasmall particles (in the range of 1 to 10 nm) differ greatly from those of bulk solids. For example, the melting point of 3 nm CdS has been reduced by almost a factor of five from bulk CdS. Bandgaps may be increased along with various activation energies. Structuring of solids in the same range has already made a splash in electron device potential, such ...

Diamond exhibits physical properties that make it an ideal material from which to construct electronic devices. A major obstacle to the use of diamond as a naturally insulating thermal management material is the lack of a method for growing large area thin films of diamond at low temperature on other materials, such as finished integrated circuits. All existing high deposition rate diamond film gr ...